Saturday, 25 October 2014

I thought I'd be posting progress pics, but I whipped through the design I've been working on extra rapidly so you might now regard it with your genteel attentions...

Angel Abode - 'just a little bit christmassy'

Prim Angel trims the tree, clad in his linen robes of light earthy hues. A little backstitching has been employed, an algerian eye stitch or four have snuck in, I kept it simple with patterns echoing each other around the border and throughout the 'celestial bodies' stitched in light pewter light gray (DMC 169).

I used a 32 count Zweigart linen in colour 'Antique White' but it looks a little more tan in the photo above. It does however provide a good visual preview as to how a linen would look if aged lightly with walnut ink crystals, coffee or Rit Tan liquid dye, if you want to prim it up before you stitch.

framed with 'stitching paraphernalia'

Above is more the 'real life' colour. I shone my stitching lamp upon it which I'll remember for future photo shoots, it worked a treat and will be helpful come the dark winter months when sun goes to bed rather early round these parts :-/

I also revamped the design of the PDF document, I'm always looking to hone things and make them better, or clearer, or more interesting to look at, so I've added some hand drawn borders and what not into the instructions to make them a little more pleasing than just the bare words. Yesterday was a day of tweaking, which I kind of enjoy :-).

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

And so I take leave of earthly things for a while and look up to the heavens, baring witness to shooting stars while musical notes rise up from the boughs into a clear winter sky.

The latest release is a design based on the Latin phrase 'O, Sanctissima' with various translations around the theme of 'O joyful day'. I found this clip of Bing Crosby singing along in Latin, apparently transporting another gentleman to a visionary realm with his sublime crooning... perhaps you are familiar?

I don't know the story but feel like someone has lit a warm crackling fire somewhere nearby me when I see old movies like these.

As I researched further, I discovered the tune was known as the 'Sicilian Mariners' Hymn' arising during the seventeen hundreds. In a nod to this, I added a border which echos the movement of the rolling waves, bringing those mariners' back safely to shore while they sing out loudly in joy of their work complete for another day.

Aside from stars and star trails, musical notes come from trumpets playing and the letter 'O' becomes a lute instrument hanging on an old tree, twisty with vines.

Loving those October colours helping the photoshoot along!

You can see my imperfect stitching up of the 'stuffing' gap... sometimes it's good, sometimes not so good...

And the shop photo:

Out comes the trusty crunkled seam binding I dyed with a few different colours a while back!

And so I'm off now to the next stitched piece, it shouldn't take too long as I'm tearing through those stitches (not literally) :-/ but I am enjoying the next one - a prim angel sorting out his abode for the winter season. I'll grab a few shots of progress in the next few days.

Monday, 6 October 2014

I am occupied with a very non-halloweeny stitch at the mo, but took a detour to imagine a gruesome 'situation' because sometimes I have cauldrons on my mind...

reader warning: this stitch is on fire!

I scanned some linen I had previously aged with walnut crystals to place my digital stitches upon, which provides a pretty good backdrop for imagining how the final piece will look. In some ways you can see the stitches very clearly when presented this way, in others, it lacks the 'ambiance' of a finished ornament with stuffing and photos with random camera angles... 'Tis why I had to set it on fire! to get the smoke going for a bit of mood ;-D

Friday, 3 October 2014

Jack will advance now
Secretly at night,
Tickling your pipes
With his wintry might.

Silent, surprising,
Unasked, he will come
To your sweet peas and veg plot,
Dismissing the sun.

Shocked now you look
At your withered pile of green,
It's all over now
Not a tattie or a bean

Is left for the soup pot
It's time to retire,
To the hearth, to the stitching,
The the comforting fire.

anon.

Okay, a stitch for the season! I took leave of my senses and didn't include a single pumpkin or gourd, instead, shaggy ink cap mushrooms and spiders' webs appear in corners. The central flowers are a more classic embroidery motif, the big 'O' for old was influenced by lettering on illustrated manuscripts which continue to inspire. The British Library has several virtual tours of manuscripts through the ages, lots of lush pictures to admire which you can keep clicking on to get an amazing close up as if your nose was inches from the pages. Here's a couple of examples:

Breviary of Renaud de Bar. France (Verdun), c.1303

Industrious bees, doves nesting in a perindens tree (medieval peacock) while a dragon
waits below, and a snake and a dragon, England,13th
century.

I like how the dragon lies diagonally on the page, extending out of his box.

Many of the images seem to have things attacking one another, it's a bit odd to me, but if I saw that image in the 13th Century I may have understood completely. I can't imagine never reading a word my entire life, which is how the bulk of the population lived in those times. These hand written scripts were the only written word available, and they were mainly written in Latin and tucked away in a monastery for the few to behold.